Monrovia has been providing subsidized, cheaper Lyft rides for Bradbury residents, and the city would like its neighbor to pay its fair fare.

City management has whipped up a new contract that would require Bradbury to pay for the Lyft services it gets through the popular GoMonrovia program, past and future, including rides to the Duarte Gold Line Station and City of Hope — which Bradbury specifically requested Monrovia add to the service area.

“That was our olive branch to them, and we haven’t received that back,” Brittany Mello, assistant to the city manager for Monrovia, said.

Monrovia’s council approved the contract last week, but Kevin Kearney, city manager for Bradbury, said his City Council members won’t decide until May or June whether they want to extend the revised contract or opt out.

“My council just has to determine if they’re still interested in moving forward with (GoMonrovia’s) new structure and financial changes,” Kearney said.

The city entered an agreement with Bradbury in 2009 to provide the neighboring town access to Monrovia Transit, the city’s dial-a-ride program, which started in 1983. When the city created GoMonrovia, the city’s alternative transportation model, it included Bradbury in its service area, allowing residents there to get Lyft rides at reduced prices within wider borders.

Since then, Bradbury’s use of Monrovia Transit has declined by almost 33 percent, to about 20 riders per month, according to an staff report. However, Bradbury’s Lyft ridership has skyrocketed. The problem is that the cities’ existing agreement only yields Bradbury dollars from the dial-a-ride program.

“I haven’t done analysis on how often and where (Bradbury’s GoMonrovia) use might be coming from,” Kearney said.

Right now, a month-to-month agreement requires Bradbury to reimburse Monrovia up to $850 per month for Lyft services — while Bradbury’s actual monthly Lyft cost is between $1,500 and $2,000.

“We’re still paying based off of the old financial structure; I think we’re up to speed,” Kearney said. If council members renew the agreement, Bradbury will reimburse Monrovia based on the updated terms, Kearney added.

Even if Bradbury does not agree, Bradbury will repay all past Lyft rides to Monrovia, Oliver Chi, city manager for Monrovia, said.

“Things are moving really slowly, and we’re not sure if we’ll able to get the contract through,” Mello said.

If Bradbury says no thank you, it’s not likely to offer a similar program on it’s own, Kearney said. “We’re a small, residential community with limited staff, and we contract our for quite a bit of our services,” he said.

In February, GoMonrovia prices rose 50 cents, making shared rides $1 and classic rides $3.50, but maintaining 50 cent rides to and from the Gold Line station and Old Town.

Los Angeles County opted out of GoMonrovia in March to save money. Since the city removed unincorporated Monrovia from the service area April 1, total GoMonrovia Lyft ridership decreased by roughly 40 percent, while the unincorporated ridership decreased by 31 percent, L.A. County residents outside the city were getting more than their fair share of Monrovia’s services, Mayor Tom Adams said.

Lyft Concierge, a dial-in ride hailing service for those without smartphone access, also saw changes in March when the city noticed abuse of the program, Mello said. People were dialing in 6,700 Lyft calls per month; now that the city requires registration to verify users are at least 18 years old and do not have access to a smartphone, concierge ridership is down to 600 per month so far.

Monrovia is considering another price increase for Lyft, expected to go before the council next month. Another $1 to $2 added to the ride cost should cushion the program’s debt, Chi said. Prices would shift to $2 to $3 for shared rides and $4.50 to $5.50 for regular rides.

Monrovia will start testing new Monrovia Transit vans in the next couple weeks. The smaller scale vans, replacing larger buses, will allow for or shorter pick-up wait times and easier wheelchair accessibility, Chi said. The city will also apply for money from L.A. Metro in coming months that will pay up to $600,000 per year to reimburse Monrovia Transit and Lyft Concierge costs.

Meanwhile, Gotcha Mobility plans to roll out e-bikes in lieu of Lime; Chi said the city should have a new bike program by year’s end. Lyft wants to introduce bikes to Monrovia but doesn’t have enough bikes to deploy its program nationwide, Chi said. The city couldn’t entertain adopting Lyft bikes for six months.

Tyler Evains is a news assistant with the San Gabriel Valley Newsgroup. She received her Bachelor's from University of La Verne where she was the editorial director and arts editor for the Campus Times, staff writer for La Verne Magazine and staff photographer for both publications. She also helped charter the first traditionally African-American sorority at ULV, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. in 2017. Tyler served as the historian and social media manager for ULV's chapter of the organization.

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